When it was up to the Knoxville Metropolitan Planning Board, the decision to let T-Mobile and Branch Towers LLC build the monopine in the Fountain City section of the city was a breeze, passing with an 8-5 vote. But it wasn’t long before the City Council, fueled by residents’ complaints about the pending construction, put the kibosh on the construction plans with a 7-1 vote. The October 1 decision overturned the carrier’s victory.
On October 29, T-Mobile filed suit in U.S. District Court. According to the Knoxville News Sentinel, the carrier argued, “The City Council’s denial of the Plaintiff’s application was illegal, arbitrary and capricious, not supported by material evidence and in violation of applicable Tennessee law.” The city responded November 24, denying those claims.
T-Mobile also said it was trying to fill in a 1.5 mile service gap and that it had looked at 10 locations before deciding that 2119 Ridgecrest Drive, the site originally approved by the planning board, was the only workable solution. But in its response last week, the city rejected the carrier’s claim that it has a significant gap in coverage near the cell tower and that records of the city council meeting “reflects that T-Mobile advertises to the public that it already has more than adequate coverage in that area,” the News Sentinel reported.
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